Event-related Potentials in Depression: Influence of Task, Stimulus Hemifield and Clinical Features on P3 Latency

P3 latency, a brain event-related potential (ERP) correlate of stimulus evaluation time, was measured in 25 unmedicated depressed patients and 27 normal controls during auditory temporal and spatial discrimination tasks. Patients were divided into two subgroups, one having a typical major depression (melancholia or simple mood reactive depression) and one having an atypical depression. Typical depressives had abnormally long P3 latency for the spatial task but not the temporal task. They also showed an abnormal lateral asymmetry, with longer P3 latency for stimuli in the right hemifield than the left. In contrast, atypical depressives did not differ from normals in either respect. Longer P3 latency correlated with ratings of insomnia, while abnormal lateral asymmetry correlated with reduced right visual field advantage for syllables. The P3 latency findings point to a task-related slowing of perceptual decisions in a subgroup of depression.